Fear reactivity and effortful control in overt and relational bullying: a six-month longitudinal study

This study examined the roles of fear reactivity and emotional regulatory abilities in overt and relational bullying behaviors. Survey data were collected from 124 middle school students (mean age=10.3 years, 47% males, 61% Caucasian) and their teachers in the fall and spring of a school year. Surveys included teacher- and self-rated measures of students' overt and relational bullying along with self-reported fear reactivity and effortful control. Findings show that low levels of fear reactivity and effortful control predict higher future levels of overt bullying, but not relational bullying. These results suggest that despite high correlations between overt and relational bullying, these two forms of aggression develop through different processes. The findings from this investigation are discussed with respect to their implications for theory on the development of aggression as well as prevention and intervention programming for youth aggression.     

Demonstrating “Reasonable Fear” at Trial: Is it Science or Junk Science?

This paper explores how scientific knowledge is used in a criminal case. I examine materials from an admissibility hearing in a murder trial and discuss the dynamics of contesting expert scientific opinion and evidence. The research finds that a purported form of “science” in the relevant scientific community is filtered through, tested by, and subjected to legal standards, conceptions, and procedures for determining admissibility. The paper details how the opposing lawyers, the expert witness, and the judge vie to contingently work out what will count in court as appropriate scientific authority, methods and evidence, and as a scientifically valid and legally admissible account of “reasonable fear.” When science becomes enmeshed in legal controversies, science does not trump law. Rather, it is the court’s canons of proper procedure and measures of substantive adequacy that take precedence.

公共资源两难管理的社会学习过程和动机释放机制

公共资源两难的根本问题是个人经济利益与社会整体利益的矛盾。一些人为了追逐个人利益最大,过度获取公共资源,走向＂公共的悲剧＂,或不愿为公共资源作出贡献,＂搭便车＂现象流行。传统的研究从理性经济人的角度探讨公共资源两难博弈行为的机制,用＂贪婪＂来解释＂搭便车＂现象,并根据强化理论以奖励和惩罚作为主要对策。但是,这种理性经济人观点忽视了人的社会动机。实际上,公共资源两难博弈是一个社会互动的过程,人的社会心理因素在其中起了很重要的作用,因此在方法论上有必要从社会人（Homo socius）的人性观来进行分析。本文在当前的相关研究文献基础上,分析了公共资源两难博弈行为的动机模式,从社会学习理论出发,提出了公共资源两难管理的社会学习过程和动机释放机制。     

创伤后应激障碍的动物模型及其神经生物学机制

创伤后应激障碍是指个体由于经历对生命具有威胁的事件或严重的创伤,导致症状长期持续的精神障碍。研究创伤后应激障碍的主要动物模型为条件性恐惧和应激敏感化模型。研究表明,创伤后应激障碍中长时程留存的恐惧性记忆、高唤醒等症状与大脑杏仁核、内侧前额叶皮层和海马三个脑区及下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺轴负反馈功能增强密切相关。其中杏仁核活动增强是条件性恐惧记忆获得、保持和表达的关键神经基础。内侧前额叶皮层对杏仁核的去抑制及海马向杏仁核传递的威胁性环境信息,促进创伤后应激障碍症状的出现。在经历创伤应激后糖皮质激素受体的上调及多巴胺活动的增强是创伤后应激障碍产生的主要神经基础。对创伤后应激障碍的药物治疗研究证明多巴胺D2受体在改善患者症状中的作用比较重要,但仍需作更深入的探索     

The Fear of Death

Taking a somewhat indirect route that includes some autobiographical reflection, I address three questions. One is what it might mean to say, with Socrates, that philosophy is "studying for death". The second is why Christians should fear death at all, if the good of Heaven is really what they believe is beyond it. The third is the question what difference it makes to your philosophical view of death if you are a believer.     

干预条件性恐惧记忆表达的相关影响因素分析

创伤后应激障碍是个体经历严重应激后形成的一种焦虑障碍, 对其治疗的关键是熄灭由创伤应激导致的条件性恐惧记忆。条件性恐惧的动物模型研究发现恐惧记忆一旦获得后就难以熄灭, 容易复发, 而这一点也是PTSD的关键临床症状表现之一。因此, 如何更好更持久地熄灭恐惧记忆, 是一个具有重要理论和临床意义的研究热点。本文围绕促进恐惧记忆的长久消退和破坏恐惧记忆的再巩固两方面的行为或药理干预及机制进行综述。针对本文所述的几种基础实验处理, 临床上可以研究治疗创伤后应激障碍的相应疗法。     

Shaming in and into Argumentation

Shame appeals may be both relevant to and make possible argumentation with reluctant addressees. I propose a normative pragmatic model of practical reasoning involved in shame appeals and show that its explanatory power exceeds that of a more traditional account of an underlying practical inference structure. I also illustrate that analyzing the formal propriety of shame appeals offers a more complete explanation of their normative pragmatic force than an application of rules for dialogue types.     

Contextual control of human fear associations in a renewal paradigm

The original model of behavior change suggests that extinction is context dependent whereas fear acquisition is context independent [Bouton, M. E. & Ricker, S. T. (1994). Renewal of extinguished responding in a second context. Animal Learning and Behavior, 22, 317-324]. Supportive evidence stems mainly from animal studies, showing that after acquisition (conditioned stimulus-unconditioned stimulus (CS-US)) in Context A and extinction in Context B, fear is renewed by presenting the CS in acquisition Context A (ABA renewal) or in a novel Context C (ABC renewal). By implication, the model predicts equal ABA and ABC renewal. However, there is also evidence to suggest that the context dependency of extinction and the context independency of acquisition may be less stringent than originally proposed. The present study investigated renewal in humans using a differential fear conditioning paradigm with a shock US and online shock expectancy ratings and electrodermal responses as dependent variables. Experiment 1 compared an ABA condition with an AAA condition. Experiment 2 compared three conditions: ABA, ABC, and AAA. Both experiments demonstrated ABA renewal. Most importantly, Experiment 2 showed larger ABA than ABC renewal. Overall, results for expectancy ratings were more convincing than for electrodermal responses. In line with the extinction model, the present findings support the context dependency of extinction in humans. In contrast to the model, the findings suggest that in humans not only extinction learning, but also fear acquisition is controlled by its current context.     

Fear of Hypoglycemia and Self Reported Posttraumatic Stress in Adults with Type I Diabetes Treated by Intensive Regimens

This study investigated the prevalence of hypoglycemic fear (FH) and hypoglycemia-specific posttraumatic stress (PTS) among individuals with Type I diabetes. Over 25% of participants met diagnostic criteria for current PTSD. High percentages of participants endorsed PTS symptom clusters, suggesting that individuals may be experiencing distress without necessarily meeting diagnostic criteria. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that perceived threat of death from hypoglycemia and FH were significantly related to PTS. Number of recent hypoglycemic episodes did not predict PTS/PTSD. Depression and nonspecific anxiety did not contribute to the statistical prediction of PTSD, suggesting that symptomatology endorsed represents hypoglycemia-specific anxiety rather than global psychological distress. The hypothesis that greater PTS symptomatology would relate to poorer glycemic control was unsubstantiated. Perceived death-threat from hypoglycemia and nonspecific anxiety were the only variables that contributed to prediction of glycemic control, suggesting that PTS did not represent a significant barrier for glycemic control in this sample.     

The effect of on‐ or off‐line extinction of a first‐order conditioned stimulus on a second‐order conditioned response in rats

In a water‐licking experiment with rats, the effects of the extinction of a first‐order conditioned stimulus (CS1) on the suppression of licking established for a second‐order conditioned stimulus (CS2) were explored. Extinction of the first‐order conditioned response (CR1) attenuated the conditioned suppression induced by CS2 when the rats had been allowed to lick water during the CR1 extinction phase. However, if water had been unavailable during the CR1 extinction phase, suppression by CS2 was not affected. The latter result is consistent with other studies of rats' conditioned suppression and suggests that the underlying mechanism of second‐order conditioning in this experiment is a connection between CS2 and the response elicited by CS1 rather than a CS2‐CS1 connection. The former result was interpreted as the CR1 extinction phase encouraging the rats to lick water despite the fear elicited by CS1, and thus, in testing, they licked despite the fear elicited by CS2.